Gladen, The Root of

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Gladen, The Root of

Regarded as a remedy for a disease called the "elf cake," which caused a hardness in the side. Thomas Lupton's A Thousand Notable Things (1595) gives the following prescription for making up the medicine: "Take a root of gladen, and make powder thereof, and give the diseased party half a spoonful thereof, to drink in white wine, and let him eat thereof so much in his pottage at one time, and it will help him within awhile." Gladen or Gladdon is an old name for both varieties of iristhe garden flower (Iris pseudo-acorus ) and the wild iris (Iris foetidissima ). The root of the former was reputed to be effective for dropsy and the root of the latter for hysterical disorders.

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